Month: January 2022

Did Honduras’ New President Change Her Mind About Dropping Taiwan?

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Advertisement The incoming Castro administration in Honduras invited Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to visit for the presidential inauguration earlier this month. This seems to be an about-face for the Castro administration, which had suggested during campaigning that it would switch recognition from the Republic of China (ROC), the name by which Taiwan is officially known, to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The inauguration will take place on January 27. It was later announced that Vice President William Lai would be attending in Tsai’s stead. Xiomara Castro of the Liberty…

Protesting Winter Olympics athletes ‘face punishment’, suggests Beijing official

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Any athlete behaviour that is against the Olympic spirit or Chinese rules or laws will be subject to “certain punishment”, a Beijing 2022 official has said in response to a question about the possibility of athlete protests at next month’s Winter Games. Sign up to our Winter Olympics daily briefing, starting in February. It comes shortly after human rights advocates told athletes they were better off staying silent for the duration of the Games and amid concerns over the online security of attendees’ data contained in a mandatory phone app.…

China’s Rising Menace Hardens Taiwan’s Separate Identity

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CHIAYI, Taiwan — When Li Yuan-hsin, a 36-year-old high school teacher, travels abroad, people often assume she is Chinese. No, she tells them. She is Taiwanese. To her, the distinction is important. China may be the land of her ancestors, but Taiwan is where she was born and raised, a home she defines as much by its verdant mountains and bustling night markets as by its robust democracy. In high school, she had planted a little blue flag on her desk to show support for her preferred political candidate; since…

Hong Kong activist who coined banned independence slogan released from prison

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Hong Kong activist Edward Leung, who coined the now-banned slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” has been released from prison and placed under strict supervision after spending four years behind bars. The prominent independence activist said in a statement posted on his Facebook page – hours after his reported release at about 3am on Wednesday – that he was back with his family. “As required by law, I am subject to a supervision order upon release,” he wrote in the post, adding that he would stop using social…

How China Intervened in a Maryland Effort to Ban Lead From Children’s Products

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Advertisement Many scholars have pointed to 2008 as a turning point in China’s diplomacy. Journalist and author of the new book on Chinese diplomacy titled “China’s Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy” Peter Martin wrote in a recent Foreign Affairs essay: “In the aftermath of the 2008–9 global financial crisis, Beijing began a shift toward a more assertive style of diplomacy, buoyed by the belief that its system had been validated by its swift response to the financial meltdown.” There appears to have been a shift in China’s…

China’s Olympics App for Athletes Has Security Flaws, Study Says

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In preparation for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Japan worked to develop a contact tracing app that would track foreign visitors, but concerns quickly mounted over bugs in the software and whether all visitors would own smartphones on which to install the app. The Citizen Lab report said MY2022 failed to confirm a unique encryption signature with the server where it was transferring data. In effect, that meant hackers could intercept the data without Chinese officials necessarily knowing. Other parts of the app, like its built-in messaging service, failed to encrypt…

Chinese activist told he could not visit dying wife is re-arrested

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Yang Maodong held ‘on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power’ two days after death of his wife A Chinese human rights activist and writer who was detained following repeated pleas to be allowed to visit his terminally ill wife has been formally arrested days after she died for allegedly “inciting subversion of state power”. Yang Maodong, who goes by the pen-name Guo Feixiong, was formally arrested on Wednesday last week by the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau, two days after the death of his wife, Zhang Qing. Continue reading… The…